Hi SkintAlly.

Sorry you've had to wait a little while for a response.

Is your partner in a trust deed?

If not, does your partner generally enjoy good access to credit?

Hi TDA,

She is not in a TD and has good credit, but is also not working just now as she is looking after our daughter. She purchased her car on a HP/PCP deal this time last year when she was working and I have included this payment within my monthly outgoings for my TD. The only income in the house is my own and the child benefit that we get. Would it be frowned upon for her to change the finance type and duration when it is effectively my wage that is paying for it?

Hi again SkintAlly.

Firstly something completely irrelevant to your question... your last post was the 10000th post on the forum, which is a pretty amazing landmark for everyone who has been involved in the site for a while. Sorry there isn't a prize (!) but thank you for your contributions to the forum and for everyone else who makes it such an interesting and useful place.

It sounds as though your options are:

1 - Speak to the company that you're with to see if they'll refinance the car. If you have a good track record of payment they may consider this.

2 - Go elsewhere to borrow the lump sum needed which will obviously depend upon your partners ability to get a loan.

In principle however I doubt that your Trustee would have an issue with this if the car is necessary and the refinance will not affect your ability to make the trust deed payments.

Hi TDA, 10,000 posts is a fair effort, I noticed that you have posted almost a quarter of them, you must have helped an awful lot of people since the forum was started.

Going back to my original subject, by refinancing the car, the payment would reduce from £210 to £175 and the term would be for 60 months. Is this the sort of saving that we could make off our own back and keep what we save? or would we have to give this money up to the TD? In a way I dont see how this would be different from buying tesco value beans as opposed to Hienz, it is us personally who have made the saving as a result of paying over a longer term.

Hi SkintAlly.

One of the nice things about the forum is that for all of the people that have posted questions or comments here there are many many more people who have read the information and used it for their own benefit later. Everyone who asks a question in the forum leaves the associated questions and answers and comments for the benefit of other people in the future.

Sadly I doubt that you would retain the possible reduction in your car expenses that you mention. The basic premise of the trust deed payment is that it's based on affordability so a reduction in a major item of expenditure should really be for the benefit of your creditors.

It's a little different to the subject of food expenses. It's only really possible to establish a "budget" in this housekeeping area as measuring the actual spend would be troublesome, often unverifiable and could vary a lot from month to month anyway.

When it comes to the more significant areas of spend (often paid by direct debit or standing order) the numbers used for the trust deed payment calculation pretty much "are what they are".

I guess that you'll benefit after the trust deed ends though?

This is frustrating because it sort of confirms that there is no point in my partner looking for work throughout the duration of my TD as she will have to make enough money to pay for child care and her car before she can even think about making a penny for the house

I can understand where you're coming from SkintAlly.

On the other side if she can find a job that more than covers the extra costs involved in going to work then her share of the increased household disposable income will be hers to spend as she wishes.

I have mixed feelings on this. If I wasn't able to include this payment then a TD wouldn't have been an option, and I can understand that if she could pay this herself, then there would be more money for my creditors,but it does seem like there is a flaw in the system that almost restricts people form bettering their situation after a TD has been signed. I think that by trustee's asking for everything, there may be alot of cases where they end up with nothing, and that isn't in the best interest of the creditior.

I'm not sure that your point is necessarily the case SkintAlly.

If your partner goes to work her income will quite rightly be expected to absorb some of the household costs; a scenario that might increase your trust deed payment.

However she would keep her share of any increased household disposable income (with your share going into the trust deed) which would lead to a more comfortable period financially for you and a higher return for your creditors.

A similar scenario may exist with a person in a trust deed who, by stretching themselves, may be able to earn extra income through overtime, bonus payments or commission. Often a trust deed firm will be happy to agree (in advance) that the person in the trust deed keeps part of it so that the incentive exists and the creditors benefit from the remainder.

Assuming that we were able to keep a certain percentage from the start then I can see your point, but adding the cost of child care and perhaps looking at it from a slightly negative point of view, she could end up working for nothing.

I do see what you mean SkintAlly, but isn't that a general dilemma faced by many families rather than being one specifically connected to the presence of a trust deed? The high cost of childcare makes it financially tough for many people to re-enter the workplace.

Just another thought. Would you qualify for child tax credits that would help to cover the cost of childcare?